Maryland Basketball Wins Third In Row, 83-74 Over Lafayette

COLLEGE PARK, Md. (AP) - Alex Len scored 16, James Padgett had 14, and Maryland never trailed in an 83-74 win over Lafayette on Tuesday night.

Nick Faust had 13 points and eight rebounds, freshman Charles Mitchell scored 12 and Dez Wells added 11 for the Terrapins (3-1), who have won three in a row following a season-opening loss to defending national champion Kentucky.

In this one, Maryland's inside game was enough to overcome the Leopards' deft outside shooting. The Terrapins finished with a 44-28 rebounding advantage and scored 50 points in the paint, but Lafayette stayed relatively close by going 15 for 32 from 3-point range.

Seth Hinrichs led the Leopards (1-4) with 20 points and Joey Ptasinski had 14. Sophomore Dan Trist missed a third straight game with a sprained left ankle after scoring a career-high 30 in Lafayette's overtime win over LIU-Brooklyn.

The Leopards fell to 2-19 against current members of the Atlantic Coast Conference. The only two wins were over Virginia in 1972 and Miami in 1991.

After closing the first half with an 11-3 run, Maryland began the second half with a 14-5 spurt to go up 54-35. Padgett fueled the latter surge, scoring five points and getting an assist on a dunk by Len.

It was 58-49 before a driving layup by Faust launched an 11-3 run that put the Terps up 69-52 with 5:21 remaining.

The Terrapins outrebounded the Leopards 25-15 in the first half and outscored them 10-1 at the foul line in taking a 40-30 lead at the break.

After Padgett scored seven points in the opening 10 minutes to stake Maryland to a 20-12 lead, Lafayette got 3-pointers from three different players in a 9-2 spurt that cut the margin to a point. At that juncture, the Leopards were 4 for 6 from beyond the arc and the Terrapins were 0 for 6.

Maryland increased its advantage to seven points before Bryce Scott hit a 3 and three-point play to get Lafayette to 29-28. But the Leopards made only one basket over the final 5 minutes of the first half.